Feuding Bureaucrats Allow HALF A MILLION Failed Asylum Seekers To Stay In UK

Over half a million failed asylum seekers are free to live in the UK due to a funding brawl between Theresa May’s Home Office and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The vast back log of appeals lodged by the migrants cannot be processed by cash-starved immigration courts and bureaucratic inertia means they have indefinite leave to remain.

When – and if – the outstanding cases do come before a court, the majority of applicants will be granted leave to stay in the UK because the length of time spent waiting means they can build up the strength of their human rights cases.

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Many will simply have children, meaning deportation will be denied because of their right to claim a family life in the UK.

As Breitbart Londonhas reported, the number of migrants claiming asylum in Britain hit a six-year high in July amid the on-going refugee crisis, making the UK the fourth largest recipients of asylum seekers in Europe.

In just one month 4,305 people and their dependants lodged a claim for asylum in the UK, making July the highest monthly figure since early 2009, according to Eurostat, the EU’s data agency.

According to the Sunday Express, attempts to handle that flow have been stymied by devastating Government cuts to justice administration which have stripped the funds needed to process the huge numbers of asylum appeals being sent their way.

A high placed source within the immigration courts system told the newspaper that “at least half” of the courtrooms at each hearing centre have been shut in a bid to meet George Osborne’s savings targets.

The Home Office, itself under budgetary pressures, says it is merely deferring any applications to stay in Britain which it believes could result in an appeal.

The senior whistleblower said that the result is a vast 500,000-strong back log of cases, which is rapidly expanding because both departments are “more interested in protecting their budgets than administering justice”.

For its part, a spokesman for the Home Office said his department would not comment on any aspect of the situation, adding it was a matter for the MoJ.

The MoJ also dodged questions on the issue, referring questions back to the Home Office and to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).

A spokesman for HMCTS would not disclose how large the current backlog of cases is or how many court rooms have been closed.

He said: “Immigration and asylum appeals are currently being heard within eight months on average. Significant delays only arise when cases are very complicated.

“To maintain current performance levels we are putting in additional sitting days for judges from next month.

“It is nonsense to suggest we are in dispute with the Home Office and we continue to work closely with them on reforms to the immigration system.”